Fall Of Jericho
by KiloActual
Summary: The Covenant have found one of humanity's outer colonies, a planet by the name of Jericho. The story follows a couple of marines in their efforts to fight a losing battle against the Covenant on the ground and in space. Rated T for language and violence and stuff.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

_Command center of orbital platform, Warsaw_

"Slip space drive detected. Counting multiple jump signatures. Sir, its them. Its the Covenant." yelled one of the officers.

"Triple check that signal. We have to be sure. Lieutenant, contact the UNSC and ONI." said the admiral walking over to the scanner screen

"Sir, signatures confirmed. Reading 3 cruiser and 5 corvettes and a carrier. Long range scanners are picking them up now."

"How long till they're with the range of the orbital platforms?" he asked assessing the situation on hand.

"Ten minutes, sir." said the officer

From across the room, a lieutenant yell, "Sir, ONI wants an immediate sit-rep on the Covenant fleet. The UNSC says that Battle Group A will be assembled by the time the Covenant fleet gets in range of the orbital platforms. Battle Group B is still planet side and in Dry Docks and Battle Group C is away on the orders from ONI"

The admiral runs his hand through his hair and sighs,"Lieutenant, send a report to ONI. Hercules, what's the ETA on the Covenant fleet?"

A hologram of the Greek mythological hero appears on the pedestal next to the admiral. "ETA, 4, hours and 13 minutes until they're with in range of the orbital platforms. Orders, admiral?"

"Initiate Cole Protocol, Hercules." the admiral said. "Once the Covenant gets into range of the platforms, light those the bastards up. Do the other platforms know of the Covenant fleet?"

"Yessir, they were notified by their on-board AIs. Hold up...heads up, we have several more slip space jump signatures. Counting about 5, wait no, 10 new jump signatures."

"Copy that. Hercules, make sure this is intel is sent to both the UNSC and ONI. Lieutenant, have you figured out who those jumps signatures belong to?"

"Yessir, they're all Covenant."

One of the operators on thee other side of the room stands up and yells,"Sir, scans show that the Covenant has deployed long ranged fighters and boarding crafts. ETA 3 hours."

"Alert the marines that we're in threat of the being boarded. Hercules, make sure the other platforms are aware of the new contacts." ordered the admiral before pushing the intercom button, "We all knew this was coming one day, people. As much as we wished for it not to happen, the Covenant are on our doorsteps. Let's show them that they're not welcome and kick their E.T. asses back to whatever hole they crawled out from."

As the admiral released the intercom button, he mutters to himself,"May God help us all."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

_Several hours later, onboard the orbital platform Warsaw_

The entire platform rumbles as another boarding party blow open another airlock and pours into the ship. The sound of weapons, both plasma and slug throwers, and yelling, both commands and the cries of the wounded and dying, filled the platform. An alarm sounds and the intercom cracks to life and one of the operators from the command center can be heard. "Covenant boarding party has breached airlock F7. Any available fire teams near that airlock, move to repel boarders."

"This is fire team Echo, copy that command. We're Oscar-mike." Marine Sergeant Alex Alaster responded. "Alright, marines, time to earn your keep. Williams, you have point."

The fire team makes their way to airlock. As they get closer to the airlock, the sound of a firefight came from the same direction.

"Double time it, boys. Looks like someone started the party without us." said Sgt. Alaster and his team quicken their pace toward the firefight only to arrive too late as the firefight between a technician crew and Covenant boarding party was over and in the Covenant's favor. The technicians laid dead with plasma burns on them and some even missing body parts from being to close to the plasma grenade explosion. The marines take cover behind some crates just as a Grunt looks over to the hallway the Marines are in.

"I count 6 tangos, 3 Grunts, 2 Jackals, and an Elite. Orders, sir?" said Corporal Williams.

"On 3, we frag 'em and mop up what's left." ordered the Sgt. Alaster

"Hold up, sir. Something not right here." said Pvt. Miller

"What's wrong, Miller?" asked the Sergeant

"That boarding ship is too large to only contain such a small boarding party. I'm going off a hunch here but I have a feeling that there are more covie inside that craft." explained Pvt. Miller

Right as the young marine finished explaining, another Covenant boarding party emerges from the craft. They stared at the much larger group with a blank expressions.

"Frags?"

"Frags." they all said in unison.

They each prime they're grenades and toss to them at the Covenant boarding party. The grenades detonate within seconds of each other, causing a chain reaction and detonating the Covenant plasma grenades. As the smoked cleared, the boarding party was reduced to nothing but mangled up bodies and chucks and limbs.

"Does anyone have anymore grenades?"

"Yeah. Why you ask?" said ask Cpl. Williams handing Pvt. Miller the grenade.

"Have to sure this airlock is secure. Cover me." said the young marine as he moved from behind the crates toward the docked boarding ship.

"Dammit, Miller, get back over here. Corporal, go with him and keep him alive." growled Sgt. Alaster.

The corporal silently made his way to the private who was leaning against a wall waiting for the corporal.

"Sarge sent me to keep an eye on you. He's not to happy with you running off like that." explained the corporal.

"Figured. Anyways, I was right. There's another squad in there prepping to move after we leave." said the private.

"What are we up against?"

"3 Grunt ultras, 2 Spec op Elites, and an Elite Zealot." sighed Pvt. Miller.

"I don't think that frag is going to cut it." said Cpl. Williams.

"No shit." face palmed Pvt. Miller

"Do the airlock doors still work?"

"Does that answer you question?" said Pvt. Miller pointing to the doors about 10 feet away from the airlock opening.

"...what about the emergency doors?"

"Yeah, they're still functional, but I don't se-..." stopped Miller and thought about it before starting again, "The panel is right behind you. "

"Give me 30 seconds. Grab what's left of the explosives and on my count toss them inside." said the older marine opening the panel behind him as the younger one quickly scavenged any explosives that survived the blast, which wasn't many.

"You ready?" asked Cpl. Williams.

"Yeah. These won't be enough to kill the Elite but I'll be enough to kill the Grunts and drop the Elites shields." said the Private.

"Figured. Alright, on my command. 3, 2, 1, NOW!" he said pressing two wires together just the Miller tossed a belt with explosives he scavenged into the boarding craft. Right before the explosives could go off, the emergency doors shot closed, sealing the only exit of the craft. As the explosives went off, they damaged the docking mechanism and breached the hull, causing the craft to drift off the station airlock and the wounded occupants to suffocate in space.

"Well that was fun. Call it in." mused the Corporal, high-fiving the Private.

"Great job." said the private before pressing his comms device on his ear, "This Echo 4 to Echo Actual, airlock secure, I repeat, airlock is secure."

His comm buzz back as his team leader responded, "Glad to hear you guys handled it. Hang tight, we'll link up with you and await further orders."

"Copy that, Echo 4 out." he responded before releasing the comms button on the side of his helmet.

"So what's next?" said Cpl. Williams smiling.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Aboard the UNSC Midnight Stars, ODST drop pod bay_

Fifteen ODSTs are gather around a holographic table. The holographic display shows the clash between the two powers. Although the UNSC Navy outnumbered the Covenant fleet 3-1, Covenant technology was much more advanced and the Navy has taken heavy loses. Battle Group A had lost 13 out of its 35 ships. Battle Group B, although just joining the fight a couple of hours ago, has already lost to 8 ships.

"Shit, the Navy is getting their asses kicked and what are we doing? Sitting back behind the orbital platforms and watch the entire damn thing unfold." said one of the ODSTs slamming on the table causing the holographic image to shimmer before resettling again.

"Settle down, Marine. We're here, like 9 other ships, in case one of those Covenant ships breaks through our lines and get pass the MACs on the platform." said an officer walking in with a type of armor that was unfamiliar to them.

"Sir!" All the ODSTs in unison, snapping into a salute.

"At ease, Marines. I know you're all anxious to get into the fight, but believe me when I say don't be. We've lost a lot of good men who were too anxious to get into the action. Keep your heads cools and don't try to be a hero, that'll only get you killed." lecture the officer.

He looked around the room at the confused looks of the ODSTs wondering who the man that lecturing them was. "As of right now I am your new CO. I'm Lt. Stark. I want an equipment and pod check now. Squad leads, with me for briefing."

"Yessir." The ODSTs walk away and head toward their pods with the exception of 5 of them. They remaining 6 people gathered around the table as Lt. Stark changes the image from the current on going space battle to the research installation and a large alien ruin.

"Gentlemen, this is our objective." began Lt. Stark.

"Sir, what are we looking at?" asked one of the squad leaders.

"What's your name, Staff Sergeant?" asked the Lieutenant.

"Dominic Rodriquez, sir." said the Staff Sergeant.

"Well, Rodriquez, what your looking at is what ONI believes the reason the Covenant are here." said Lt. Stark. "That facility is a ancient Forerunner site. Scientist on the ground have been studying these ruins for years. They believe the facility was used as a scientific research outpost. Oddly enough, the place is easily defensible and even has manually operated defense turrets. According to test, plasma weaponry has a harder time breaking through it. So far, only large plasma detonations or large amounts of plasma discharge can penetrate it." On the table two separate hologram appeared, showing the testing of the walls of the forerunner facility.

"So I'm assuming our objective has to do with that building." said one of the other Sergeants.

"Indeed it does. Our objective is to secure the facility and repel the Covenant until the science types are extracted. After that, we move to be extracted at evac point bravo. Once we're given the order we're deploying. So whatever you need to do before the mission, do it now. Dismissed." said the ONI agent before shutting down the table and walking off."

As soon as the Lieutenant was out of the room, one of the ODST squad leaders spoke up, "I hate working with Spooks. There's always something they're not telling us."

Just as someone was about to respond, the entire ship shook and caused a few of the unsuspecting to Marines to fall.

"What hell was that?! Were we just hit?!" yelled one of the team leaders. Another ODST, who keep his balance, started running over to the holographic table to see if any Covenant ships had gotten passed the MAC cannons and started firing upon them.

As the holographic display settle, the image was far worse than what they imagined. It left the ODST standing there speechless.

"Ryder, what the fuck just happened? Are we being fired upon because if we are we need to deploy now." yelled his squad leader as more ODSTs entered the room from whatever part of the ship they had just come from. "RYDER, ANSWER ME!"

"N-no. We're not hit. The Farscape, i-its gone. The entire orbital platform just exploded!"

**Author's Note**

**I think that's a good place to stop for now. Sorry if updates to this story are a little random. With school around the corner and everything else, I'm not sure when I'll have to work on this. If you've read up to this point thanks for giving my story a try especially since its my first one. The Halo ****Series belongs to 343 Industries with the exception of basically all of the characters in this story. Any names that similar to either someone in real life or in the Halo franchise is purely by coincidence. Feel free to review or comment and give me some feedback. Anything and everything is appreciated, even the hate.**

**Thanks again for giving my story a read and have a great day.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Onboard the Warsaw_

"No no no, this is isn't happening. Someone tell me that didn't just happen!" yelled a Sgt. Alaster over as he stared at the wreckage of the Farscape slowly drifting further apart.

"B-but how? The Covenant ships are still too far to fire upon the platform." asked Pvt. Miller in disbelief of what just happened.

Suddenly the intercom buzzes to life and snaps everyone back into reality. Through the intercom, one of the operators is heard yelling into the comm system. In the background rifle fire can be heard along with the sound plasma rounds hitting the reinforced door leading into the room. "THIS IS THE COMMAND CENTER, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. THE COVENANT ARE RIGHT OUTSIDE THE BLOODY DOOR AND THEY HAVE A MASSIVE BOMB! WE NEED BACK-UP! ANY AVAILABLE SQUADS, PLEASE RESPOND, I REPEAT, THE COMMAND CENTER IS UNDER ATTACK. ANY AVAILABLE COMBAT UNITS, PLEASE RESPOND!"

"Copy, Command. This is fire team Echo, moving to assist in defense." said Sgt. Alaster, responding to the plead for help. "The Command center is on the other side of the platform, we got haul ass, Marines."

The small team of marines ran to the toward the command center. Along the way picked off any Covenant squads that opposed them. As the marines were 3/4 of the journey there, they were stopped by 3 teams of marines who had also responded to the call for help.

"What's the hold, marines?" asked Sgt. Alaster staring at the marines who were hold up in a room overlooking a larger room.

"We have big problem, two big problems to be exact." said one of the marines pointing at the window. In the room below was a pair of Hunters. They hadn't notice the marines in the room above and were acting as sentry to stop anyone from getting to the command center.

"Dammit. How the hell did they get in here?" cursed Cpl. Williams under his breath.

"A Phantom was able to make it inside one of the Pelican Bays and dropped off these guys and their friends are the ones currently attacking the command center." said one the Marines who had heard Cpl. Williams.

As the marine finished explaining how the Hunters got in, another fire team walked in.

"We got two Hunters in the room below and that's the only way to Command." explained Pvt. Miller to the team that had just arrived.

"3rd battalion demolition squad, how can we be off service?" he replied quickly grasping the situation.

"Shit, you guys are gift from the heavens right about now" Pvt. Miller asked before tapping Cpl. Williams on the shoulder, "Tell the Sarge we got a Demo squad here."

The Corporal nodded before heading over to the Sergeant and telling him about the squad that had just arrived.

"Well don't just stand out in there. Come on in and make your selves at home." said Pvt. Miller ushering the squad into the large room,"We have MREs and water in the corner over. Sergeant, I suggest you meet up with the other Sergeants on the other side of the room. We need a good plan if we're going to take on those hunters"

After a few minutes each Sergeant went back to their respective fire team or squad and explained their roles in the plan to them.

"So all we have to do is protect the demos until they kill the hunters? Sounds simple enough. What about the others" asked Cpl. Williams going over the plan in his head.

"The other teams are going in first to distract the Hunters, maybe even take one out with amount of frags they have. We just need to get the man with the launcher into position and the rest is should be easy." explained Sgt. Alaster. As he finished explaining, the other 12 marines started filing out of the room and down the stairs to the room below

"We better hope they can take out one of the Hunters." said Pvt. Miller watching the last of the marines exit the room.

"What makes you say that, Miller?" asked Sgt. Alaster.

"Because they only have one rockets." said the usually silent member of fire team Echo, Lance Corporal Parker.

"So you do speak. Aside from that, Parker is right. The Demo team only has one rocket and we miss then we're all in for a world of hurt." explained Miller.

"Then we better not miss. Alright, get ready to move. William, tell them to get prepped for combat." ordered the Sergeant motioning toward the demolition squad on the other side of the room.

"Why is it always me?" he mumbled under his breath as he quickly moved to the squad and told them that they were getting ready to move.

In 60 seconds, both the fire team and the squad were all facing the door as it hissed opened. The only other sounds came from the marines saying prayers or cursing under their breath and the sounds of plasma and firearm weaponry going off as the Covenant strike team still tries to gain entry to the command center only to be stop by a small band of defenders at the door.

As they began their decent down the stairs the sound of multiple grenades going off and a hunter groaning from the pain of the explosion followed by the sound of ARs, BRs, and SMGs opening fire on the Hunters before the smoke had even cleared. After a shooting had stopped, the fire team Echo and the demolition squad had arrived on the but stayed out of sight. As they slowly made their way to their position, a faint green glow could be seen in the smoke before a large stream of plasma shot out and hit a marine dead center in the chest, melting and vaporizing him. The outline of a single Hunter was present before it rushed out of the smoke and charged at the marines in a fit of fury upon the death of its bond brother. Startled by the now extremely pissed off Hunter, some of the marines began to running in hopes of getting away from the monster that stood before them. Others on the other hand, that were too scared to move or were able to keep their cool, attempted to kill the Hunter by shooting it, but their rounds harmlessly bounce of its armor and shield and only succeed in angering it more. Swinging its shield, the monster smacked two marines causing them to be sent flying into wall behind them. One of the Sergeants took advantage of having the Hunter's back toward him and fired a half of his Assault Rifle clip into its exposed backed before the Hunter swung its shield over its head and brought it down on the Sergeants head with enough momentum and force that it split the Marine Sergeant in half. After that, Marines who weren't moving started moving in hopes of that their superior mobility would keep them out of striking range of the Hunter's shield, but close enough that it couldn't use its cannon.

Finally getting into position, the Sergeant of the Demolition squad moved out his cover and took aim at the raging goliath with the rocket launcher and all the marines got clear of the Hunter. Taking this as an opportunity to fire its cannon, the Hunter began charging its cannon unaware of the man behind it with rocket launcher. With the shot lined up perfectly, the marine was about to pull the when an energy blade stabbed through his chest and caused him to tighten his grip on the trigger and firing the rocket right pass the Hunter and into a wall. The blast and the debris had successfully knocked out three marines. Luckily, the back blast from the rocket was enough to burn out the Elite's active camouflage unit and disrupted its shields. The fire team quickly dispatched of the elite as it tried to retrieve its energy sword from the corpse of the Demolition Sergeant. Unfortunately, the Hunter took noticed of the gunshots and the rocket and focused its attention on the single fire team and the leaderless demolition squad. As the Hunter began charging up its cannon, the 11 marines all said the same thing as the glowing green light of its cannon grew brighter, "Shit."

**A/N**

**I do not own any part of the Halo franchise and any names that are similar to those of someone in real life or in the Halo Universe are by pure coincidence. **

**For those of you who are wondering about the difference between a fire team and a squad, squad are larger than fire teams. Fire teams are generally from 3 to 5 people while a squad can made from 6- 8 members**

**Thank you so much reading my story and putting up with the random updating pattern. If you want to just leave a review or comment on the progress of the story, please go ahead. Thanks again for reading and have a great day. **


	4. Chapter 4

_Onboard the Warsaw_

_"_SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" yelled Pvt. Miller as the Hunter's fuel rod cannon shot slammed into the wall behind them, causing a couple of the Marines to dive for cover.

"On your feet, Miller. We got to move." said Sgt. Alaster pulling Miller to his feet. The fire team quickly moved behind the a couple of crates and hide as the Hunter was distracted with the absconding demolition squad.

"Sarge, we are so screwed. That was our only rocket." said Cpl. Williams sitting next to Sgt. Alaster while Pvt. Miller and Lance Corporal Parker peeked out from the sides of the box.

"Marine, did I give you permission to bitch?" said Sgt. Alaster scolding Cpl. William.

As he tries to calm Williams, Parker spotted something and prepared to sprint for it. The only one who seemed to notice was Pvt. Miller.

"What are you thinking?" asked Miller grabbing Parker's shoulder to stop him from sprinting.

Parker goes back down one knee and points to something by a dead marine. Miller peeks over to and tries to see what his teammate is pointing at. After a couple of seconds he notices it and looks back at the Lance Corporal. "Brother, you are one crazy son of a bitch. What's the play?" Miller said grinning.

Parker smirked and whispered his plan to the youngest marine of the team.

"Got it. Get into position, I got your back." Miller said patting Parker on the shoulder.

Parker nodded and quietly slipped out from behind the box. Before Miller could follow, Alaster grabs his arm. "What the hell are you two planning?"

"What do you think, Sarge? We going to kill that hunter." said Miller before pulling the charge handle on his DMR and jumping out from behind the box.

"Ah hell. Let's go, Williams. Someone needs to drag they're asses out of the fire." sighed Alaster moving from behind the crate

"Why is everyone on this team crazy?" cursed Williams under his breath, following his Sargent. Both were greeted with the sight of Miller beginning to pop off shots into the Hunter's exposed back causing it to stagger forward. As the Hunter turned to face the three Marines, the remaining marines took this as an opportunity to grab up the wounded and get the hell out of there.

"You never told us the plan, Miller." said William as fired a few rounds from his Assault Rifle into the Hunter to make sure its attention was focused on them.

"The plan is to bait it toward us and distract it while Parker finds a way to kill it." explained Miller holding his position and emptying the rest of his clip into Hunter, with only one other round hitting an exposed part of the Hunter's body.

"I'm not sure I'm liking this plan." said the Corporal starting to panic as the Hunter stopped moving and begun charging it's cannon.

"Ah shit." cursed Sgt. Alaster under his breath.

As the Hunter was about to fire, a hole was blow in the Hunter's body causing it's cannon to lose it's charge and the Hunter itself, to fall over dead. Behind it stood Parker with a shotgun, grinning like an idiot.

"Dear god, took you long enough. I thought you were gonna let that thing fry us." said Miller walking up to Parker and giving him a fist bump. "We better get to command center, Sarge. The others will catch up after the they've finished regrouping."

"Agreed. Come on, Marines. Double time it." said the Sargent as he and his fire team took off toward the Command Center.

_At the Command Center Entrance_

As Echo team arrived at the what use to be the Titanium A reinforced doors to the command center, the firefight had come to a close. The fire team quickly moved through the blasted down doors and into the room only to find that everyone inside, including the Covenant, were all dead. The bodies of the Command Crew were slumped over their computers or sprawled across the ground with plasma burns covered their bodies. The Covenant strike team shared a similar fate, all of them were riddled with bullet holes and some missing body parts due to a frag grenade.

"Check for survivors! Quickly! Parker, make sure Cole Protocol has been initiated." barked the Sargent as he check the pulse of one of the operators.

"Sarge, I found the Admiral. He's still breathing, sir, barely." yelled Cpl. Williams. Alaster quickly ran over and tried to help the admiral up but was turned down.

"Leave me, soldier. I'm through." said the admiral as his breathing became more labored. "Hand me that comm link. Have this sent station wide." The admiral took a deep breath. "Attention all hand, this is the admiral speaking. The Covenant have broken through to Command Center and the Command Staff is dead. Cole Protocol has be initiated and the Covenant bomb has been planted. I want all hands to evacuate this station immediately. Pelicans, Lifeboats, ODST drop pods, use whatever means necessary to evacuate the station before this thing goes off. These are my final orders. Its been an honor serving with you. Signing off." The admiral shut off the comm link and looks up the fire team before him. "I'm not sure how much time you guys have but it can't be a lot. Get out of here. Its been an honor, gentlemen."

"Likewise, sir." said Sgt. Alaster saluting to the admiral along with the rest of Echo team before they sprinted our of the Command Center and to the nearest Pelican bay.

"Godspeed, Marines." said the admiral before he closed his eyes and let the death take him.

**A/N**

**Hey Sorry for the long wait for this update, I've been really busy. Halo doesn't belong to me, only the characters belong to me. Halo is property of 343 Industries. All names similar to that of someone in real life is completely coincidental. **

**Thanks for reading my story or giving it a try. All feedback is welcome and will be put into consideration. Until next time .Happy Holidays and have a great day.**


	5. Chapter 5

_UNSC Midnight Stars, ODST drop pod bay_

As the Warsaw detonates, the crew of the _Midnight Stars _scrambles to prepare to engage any Covenant ships that get through and launch its ODSTs.

"Attention all hands, this is the Captain speaking. The orbital guns are down. All hands standby positions. ODSTs, report for briefing." buzzed the Captain over the loud speaker.

As the announcement ends, Lt. Stark walks into the drop bay.

"You heard the skipper, Marines! Report for briefing." he yells from the doorway grabbing everyone's attention.

"Sir, Yessir!" the ODSTs respond and move out of the drop bay into the briefing room. In the briefing room, the Captain stood there with the ship's AI next to him on the pedestal. As the last of the ODSTs settled in the room, some sitting, others standing in the back, the Captain clears his throat and begins.

"Gentlemen, I'm sorry to have to say this but there's been a change in plans. You'll be dropping in as planned but you'll be have to hike to the objective. You rally point after drop will be a small abandoned town called Wayland. Its a couple of klicks from the Forerunner site and the research facility. We suggest yo-"

"Captain, We have incoming. Two Covenant corvette have broken through the battle lines and are en route. What are your orders, Sir?" the ships AI says appearing next to the Captain.

"Hold the ship back but be prepared to engaged." order the Captain. After a nod, the AI disappears from the pedestal. "ODSTs, looks like we're going to have to cut this short. Get to your pods. You're being deployed as soon as we get the green light. Anyone who isn't in a pod with after initial launch is being sent down in a Pelican with the reinforcements. Lt. Stark, I'll leave the rest with you. We all have our orders, so let's get to work. Good luck down there, Marines." With that, the Captain leaves the room, leaving the ODSTs to themselves.

"Alright boys, you heard the skipper, we don't have much time left. Squads Alpha to Echo, you're our forward assault. You'll be heading down in the pods and secure the site for reinforcements to land. Squads Foxtrot to Oscar are on the reinforcement pelican along with a couple of companies of Marines. Once on the ground, half of you will move to assist the defense of the research station while the other half will assist the Marines and local colonial forces on the ground. That's all, Marines. Gear up and report to your pods. Dismissed."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_UNSC Midnight Star, Bridge, a few minutes later_

The doors open with a hiss and the Captain walks through. Spotting the commanding officer, one of the minor officers stands up and shouts, "Captain, on deck." Upon hearing this, the rest of the bridge crew stood up and saluted, save the few who were directing the rest of the ship crew and relaying orders.

"At ease, men." With that, everyone continues what they're doing. The Captain walks over and sits down in his chair.

"Captain, we have multiple bogeys inbound heading toward the Battle Group. The Corvettes have launched Seraphs and Banshees. What are your orders?" asked one of the bridge officers.

"Keep the ship on yellow alert. I want fighters launched to support the rest of the battle group but we hang back. We'll join in the fight after the first wave of ODSTs is deployed. And get those pelicans loaded up and put on standby. They're to launch as soon as we boots on the ground." ordered the Captain.

"Captain! New bogey inbound. Reading show a Covenant Carrier. It just completely ignored the main Battle Groups. They're coming in fast."

"Sir, the corvettes have changed course to intercept our Battle Group. The Carrier is the still on its course. Projected destination is... Jericho! They heading straight for the planet."

"Dammit. Raise status, red alert. What's the status the ODSTs?" asked to the Captain.

"Drop pod tubes are hot. Ready to launch, sir." yelled one of the officers.

"Launch 'em. Lieutenant."

"Pods launched."

"Get this ship moving. We need to catch up the with the rest of the Battle Group."

"Yessir! Moving toward the Battle Group. UNSC ships have already begun engaged hostile crafts."

"Arm Archer Missile Pods A through F and spin up MAC cannon. I want a firing solution the closest corvette. Once we're in range, light the bastards up."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Inside a Drop Pod_

Feeling the pod moving, Ryder was soon greeted with the back of the pod next to him as they were lined up for dropped. On the inside of the door, two small screens, each the size of datapads, came to life. On one screen showed his squad leader, Sgt. Summers, who had her helmet donned but the visor was translucent, on the other, showed Lt. Stark, with his helmet on in a similar fashion. As the pod stopped turning, he was faced with view of the of the planet below from low orbit.

"Troopers, We are green and very, very mean!" yelled Lt. Stark. As he finishes his statement, pods begin descending.

"See you hell, boys." said Sgt. Summers as her visor darkens and her pod was launched

Watching another pod launch, Ryder feels his pod being being released from the ship and it falling through the planet's lower atmosphere. After a few moments, Lt. Stark breaks the silence.

"We're passing through a clouds, prepare to make adjustment. On my mark. 3...2...1...Mark!"

With that, the small thrusters on the SOEIVs came to life and everyone adjusted their course to get as close to the designated drop point as possible. The rest of the fall was quiet, save the few ODSTs praying to whatever higher power they believed in, which is understandable due to the fact that its not uncommon for an ODST to die during impact.

"Deploying air break!" The chutes on the pods deploying, slowing the pods before it can be too effected from re-entry, then breaking off from the pod allowing the pod to pick up speed again.

Watching the ground get closer, Ryder prepares himself for the impact.

_20 seconds..._

Sparing a quick glance at his DMR next to him to make sure it was the still there.

_15 seconds..._

Looking at the screen that showed his squad leader, his squad leader seemed to catch his glance.

"Don't worry, Ryder. I'm still here. See you on the ground" she said before he heard her pod door open and she vanished from view.

_10 seconds..._

He stared straight out of his pod and closed his eyes.

_5 seconds..._

_4..._

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

Opening his eyes, he felt the his pod crash into the ground. As the door swung open his visor darkened and he jumped out his pod with his sidearm in hand and quickly scanned the area for signs of threats. After establishing a safe perimeter, he went back to his pod and began striping it of any and all equipment stashed on. While going through his equipment, Ryder noticed a blue diamond appear on his compass on his HUD. The objective waypoint, being marked Wayland, was 5 miles out., closer than he was expecting.

Finished cleaning out his pod, Ryder looked toward the direction the beacon was pointing him in. Before he could start walking, two green diamonds appeared on his HUD from two other drop pod beacons.

_Looks like its gonna be one of those days. _He mentally sighed as he made his way to the closest drop pod.

**A/N**

**Sorry for the late update. **

**Well, I should mention this now, after the this point, there will only be a handful or so scenes in space. The rest takes place on the ground**

**I also want to clear up a few other things for anyone that's confused or wondering:**

**For people wondering about characterization, besides through their actions, we haven't seen them out of their armor or even helmets yet. YET. I will get to how they look like later on. **

**As for the names of the characters, its only their last names for now. First names will established along side the characterization of that character.**

**Anyways Halo belongs to 343 industries and its respective developers. Any names with any real world counterpart is completely coincidental.**

**Thanks for reading my story up to this point or just giving it a try. Feedback, good and bad, is much obliged. Thanks again. Have a great day.**


	6. Chapter 6

_Onboard Pelican Echo 036_

"This is Pelican Echo 036, requesting permission to land on any UNSC ships." No response.

"I say again, this is Pelican Echo 036, I have survivors from the Warsaw, some them are wounded and need medical attention. Requesting permission to land on any UNSC ships in the AO. Does anybody copy?" repeated the pilot. This time, the radio crackled in response.

"We read you, Echo 036. This is heavy-frigate _UNSC_ _Midnight Stars_, you clear for land. Proceed to hang-" the operator stop and the sound of idle chatter from the bridge filled the comms instead.

"_Midnight Stars_, I did not copy last, I repeat, did not copy last. Are we clear to land?" said the pilot.

"Scratch that, Echo 036. You are not clear to land. We are engaging those corvettes. Head toward Jericho and link up with our birds heading planet side to assist friendly forces down below. Sorry about not being able to give you proper help. Clear skies, Echo 036."

"Good luck out there, _Midnight Stars_." With that, comm line went silent. Switching to the interior comm and sighing, "Alright boys, bad news. There's been a change in plans. We won't be receiving any support from the any of the ships. We're linking up with their birds as they take-off from their ship and heading to the planet below to support the ground forces, if the covies manage to land ground forces." Right on cue, the Battle Net lit up with chatter of something unexpected.

"This is _UNSC Vale_, that Carrier just completely ignored us. Does anyone have a firing solution on that thing." yelled the Captain of the _Vale_, only to receive a series of 'negatives' from the other ships.

"This is _UNSC Midnight Stars_, it did the same thing to Battle Groups A and B. Scans are showing Phantoms and Spirits being launched. They're trying to land ground troops."

"Shit. Let's deal with these corvettes then I want all ships to engage that Carrier." With a confirmation of all the other ships, the pilot of Echo 036 mute the Battle Net comm and went back to the addressing his passengers.

"Alright, you heard them. A Covenant Carrier has broken through and are trying to land ground troops, so be prepared for a firefight." said the pilot.

"As long as you can get us there, airman, then we'll be ready to hit the Covenant hard." said one of the Marine Sergeants.

"Copy that, I'll get you to a base in one piece." replied the pilot before switching off the internal comms.

"Echo Team, make sure you're ready for a mission as soon as we hit the ground."

"Sir, yessir!" said his marines checking their weapons and ammo.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Jericho, ODST Forward Base of Operations_

Ryder noticed the beacon for the ODST FOB on his HUD as he approached the second pod. The first pod he checked out revealed that the occupant had not survived trip down as his air breaks seem to be busted resulting in the impact killing him. Scavenging what he could, he was able retrieve their both of their weapons, an SMG and Magnum, most of their ammo and grenades, a med-kit, their Dog Tags, and a few other thing that might be useful and stored them in his pack or any available pouches or pockets.

As he got closer to the second pod, he noticed that the door to the drop pod hadn't been opened or blown off yet. Raising his DMR, Ryder slowly to rounded around to the front of the pod only to see the occupant seating there staring back at him.

"Hi." the occupant said with a hint of happiness.

"What the hell?" was all Ryder could say in response.

"Can you help me out? I seem to be stuck. The door release mechanism got fried during re-entry and now I can't get out." explained the ODST.

"Why don't you just blow the door off?" questioned Ryder.

"I'm not detonating a grenade in my pod." bluntly stated the trapped ODST.

"I mean the doors the have explosive bolts in them that forcibly ejects the door after you hit the buttons around the pod." explained Ryder

"Oh. So question."

"They're the glowing green buttons." quickly stated Ryder, facepalming his visor.

"Right. Thank you." he replied and starting to hit the buttons.

"How the hell are you a helljumper and not know that?" question Ryder standing to the side of the pod. Crouching and raising his rifle, he began scanning the tree line.

"Well you see, I kinda, sorta slept though that demonstration. Dammit, where ar- nevermind." said the trapped ODST hitting the last button above the door. The door hissed before launching off the pod with a loud 'bang.' With that, Ryder got up and turned around.

"Thanks again, ummm?"

"Private First Class Mark Ryder, Delta Squad."

"Ah. Well thanks again, Ryder. The name's Derek Edwards. Corporal, Charlie Squad."

"A pleasure. Now hurry up and strip your pod, I'll cover you." stated Private.

"From what? We landed in the middle of a field, who's going to shoot at us?" said Edwards, shrugging and walking up to his pod, removing his Assault Rifle and checking his ammo clip. As he slides the clip back in to the rifle, bullets kick up the dirt next to him and ping off the side of the pod. Ryder jumped behind the pod while Edwards jumped back into the pod.

"What were saying about no being shot at?" yelled Ryder over the gunfire.

"Nevermind what I said, who's shooting at us?" shouted Edwards back while popping out of the pod to lay down fire on their attackers. Ryder popped out from the side of the pod and use the scope on his DMR to spot their attackers. Once he found them, what he saw surprised him. Being fired upon once again, the two ODSTs took cover again.

"So who's shooting at us? I swear if this is friendly fire, I'm going to beat them to a bloody pulp with my helmet." yelled Edwards. Just as he finished, the gunfire stopped and was replaced with a voice on a megaphone.

"UNSC, you are not welcome here. Lay down your weapons and leave Jericho in peace. And take your damn war with you. We don't want it here." said the voice.

"Are you they serious?! Are those Insurrectionists?" said Edwards looking at Ryder as he was looking at the rebels through his scope.

"Yeah, they're goddamn Innies. I'm counting about 13. Do you think they'll let push North to the FOB?" asked Ryder

"Doubt it. Any hostiles to the North of us?" replied Edwards. Ryder swung his rifle to the right and scanned the path to the North.

"Nope. We're clear on the Northern front but I don't see much cover between us and that tree line though." replied Ryder refocusing his aim on the Insurrectionists who had previously fired on them.

"Alright looks like we're fighting our way out. Target the guy who was talking first. Hopefully that demoralizes them." said the Corporal, moving quickly from out of the pod to behind it next to Ryder and opening a small storage hatch on the side of the pod and taking out some of the ammo and reloading his AR.

A simple nod was all he got in reply from Ryder before he squeezed the trigger, sending a round into the man's skull, killing him instantly. This was quickly followed by two more shots that killed two more Rebels. The rebels quickly followed in suit, firing their weapons at the helljumpers once again.

"Well look at the bright side, at least there's no Covenant." joked Edwards as he and Ryder exchanged shots with the Rebels.

As if right on a cue, the sound of thunder crashing louder in in the distance caused everyone to stop shooting and look toward the sound. In the distance, a Covenant Carrie emerged into the clear sky from the clouds followed by swarms of Phantoms, Spirits, and Banshees. The ODSTs looked at each other, the Private with a glare of 'You fucked up' and the Corporal with a nervous look and laugh of 'Whoops'. While both faces were well hidden behind their visors, they could knew the looks at that each of them were giving each other. Yet both share the common thought of 'We're fucked.'

**A/N**

**There you go the first major ground scene and here we see the return of the Insurrectionist. So now we have part of the human population of Jericho gunning for the UNSC. I know this seems a bit out of the blue but work with me here, I have an idea that might work.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Halo series or games, just the character in this story. The Halo series was created by Bungie and is currently owned by 343 industries and its respective developers.**

**Thanks for the reading my story and for giving me support to continue this story. It really helps motivate me to work on this. **

**Review or comment. All feedback is welcome. Thanks again. Have a great day.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**

**I am so sorry for the late update. Life has just been so hectic recently, with school and life and general laziness. Its been tough. Thank you for waiting so patiently. I really do appreciate it.**

**Disclaimer: Halo does not belong to me. It belongs to 343 industries and its respective developer. I only own the characters in the story. Any names in this story are completely coincidental. **

**I was reading back the previous chapter and I realized a mistake. On the location for Jericho, I didn't mean to put ODST Forward Base of Operations. I meant to put ****_en route to ODST Forward Base of Operations._ I don't have to explain what a Forward Base of Operations, or FOB, is. Pretty self-explanatory. So sorry for that mistake. **

**Also, just to clear up somethings up before I continue, the unit sizes differ from the Marines and the ODSTs in this story. ODSTs don't have fire teams. They go straight to squad which is 4-8 people. Marines, however, do. A fire team consists of 4-5 marines and a squad is from 6-8 marines. All unit sizes after that are same. Anyways, on to the story. **

_Jericho, 3 miles from the ODST FOB_

"No Covenant. You just had to open your mouth!" yelled Ryder glaring angrily at his fellow ODST.

"How was I suppose to know they would arrive at the moment I finished my sentence?! Look, let's deal with these assholes first then you can chew me out for it." said Edwards defending himself while blind firing a third of his Assault Rifle clip.

A nod in agreement was all the Corporal got in response. This was followed by Ryder popping out of his cover and firing a couple of shots off from his DMR before he was forced back behind the pod by enemy fire being redirected to him. Risking a peek, Ryder saw that Insurrectionist were retreating, leaving only a man on a mounted machine gun and 2 two others with rifles to keep the ODSTs pinned and cover their allies retreat.

"They're falling back. The Covenant must have spooked them. We got two riflemen and guy on the mounted machine gun left." said Ryder looking at Edwards.

"Alright, wait for the barrel to overheat then take out the gunner. I'll take the riflemen." ordered Edwards putting down his AR and taking out his Magnum. They waited and listened to the machine gun fire with the bullets kicking up the dirt around them or pinging off the metal alloy of the pod. Finally, there was a break in the gunfire and the ODSTs took this to their advantages. Quickly popping out of their cover, the ODSTs fired their weapons, Ryder firing only one round that quickly embedded itself into the gunner's head, just above the eye, while Edwards fired off about 5 rounds, 2 missing their mark while the other 3 embedded themselves into one of the rifleman's chest. Before he could turn his attention to the other Insurrectionist, a loud crack echoed and the other rifleman dropped dead with a single hole in his head. The two ODSTs turn see another ODST emerge from the bushes at the base of the trees line with a sniper rifle in one hand and waving at them with the other. Taking a moment to grab the supplies from pod and search area for any other threats, only to find that they were in the clear, before quickly jogging over to meet their fellow soldier-in-arms.

As they got closer, they were able to make out that the sniper was a woman. She had noticeably less armor than the two ODSTs approaching her. Her right shoulder pad was removed and replaced with a couple of sniper rounds and had lighter version of the ODST armor meant for scouts. Her left shoulder pad was just the standard ODST shoulder pad but had her squad emblem patch on it, which was the Blue Diamond in a circle with the blades of a buzz saw surrounding it.

"We've been on this planet for less than a couple hours and you boys are already getting shot at by the locals. What am I going to do with you two?" said the female ODST extending her right hand. "Lance Corporal Nicky Summers, Bravo Squad"

"PFC Mark Ryder, Delta Squad. Thanks for the assist. Gods know if Edwards over here could have hit that gunner before becoming hole-y." said Ryder shaking her hand.

"That's cold, dude. Corporal Derek Edwards, Charlie Squad, at your service. Thanks for the help." said Edwards shaking her hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, guys. We better get moving before the locals come back figure out what happened to their guys. Also I'm not sure how long we have until the Covenant sends patrols our way. That spook said they're here for the Forerunner structure, right? We need to link up with the rest of the company and secure that structure." said Summers.

"We'll follow you, ma'am. You're the highest ranking person here. Lead the way." said Ryder looking back toward Edwards crashed SOEIV and its ruined state. One side was littered with bullet holes and sunlight could be seen shining through a few of the holes. He attention was drawn back to Summers when she responded to him.

"It seems you're right. Let's move out, boys. We're behind schedule as is. Edwards, you have point." ordered the Lance Corporal, slinging her sniper rifle and pulling out her secondary weapon, a silenced SMG. Edwards gave a quick nod before walking ahead of the two other ODSTs at a quick pace, followed by Summers, and Ryder covering the rear with his DMR raised, scanning the horizon the clearing for anything out of the ordinary while walking backwards before turning around to catch up with the other two.

The walk to Wayland was quiet one. An hour after the initial engagement, they encountered no other hostiles, allowing the three of them to relax a bit while walking. After a couple more hours of walking, the trees started to thin and the town could be in the distance.

"Fraking finally. Wayland is within view, ma'am." said Edwards, the blue diamond showed how far out the town was as the distance counter was at 1.6km.

"Hear that, Ryder. We're almost there." said the Lance Corporal turning to check on the Private guarding the rear. The only issue was, he wasn't right behind her. "Ryder? Ryder? Where'd you go?" She was out to call out again when movement from bush about a couple of yards back. She leveled her SMG when Ryder popped out from the bush.

"Need something, ma'am?" asked Ryder jogging over.

"Shit, Mark, you can't just go off disappearing like that. I almost started worrying there."

"Sorry, ma'am. Force of habit."

"How so?" asked Summers looking at the Private before walking beside him while Edwards said a few yards ahead.

"I use to be a part of a marine unit up until a year ago, ma'am, acted as their scout. I mainly worked solo ops. Recon on Covenant positions, troop movement, kinds of troops, taking out HVTs. Only been spotted a handful of times, but every time I was, I managed to get away and get back to base. Anyways, on the few times I've been forced to partner up, they would tell our superiors that I would 'disappear' on them only to reappearances when necessary. '' explained Ryder.

"Tell me about your old unit." said Summers trying to make conversation as they walked.

"They were a good bunch. Tight knit group. We trusted each other and watched watch other's backs. They knew when to joke around and have fun and when it was time to be serious. Our CO was understanding of us and wasn't to too strict with us but wasn't afraid to discipline us if we got out of hand. They were also pretty big on nicknames, said it was tradition everyone in the unit have one. Took them awhile to figure out one that suited me but after a scouting mission gone wrong, I came back to base in a Covenant Spectre. Add that with my 'disappearing' acts during recon missions and they had their nickname for me, Spectre." Ryder explained, sighing at the last part.

"So why'd you leave? Sounds like a really good unit to be in." asked Summers, curiosity getting the better of her.

"After some bad intel from another company's recon team, my entire unit was wipe out in a fight with a Covenant armored column. I was the only one that survived because I was send ahead to scout out a different sector. After that and because of my service record, I got an offer to join up with the ODSTs. So here I am."

A quiet 'oh' was all Ryder got in reply and the two walked side by side in silence for a minute before Summers's curiosity caused her to break the silence. "So why don't you go by Spectre anymore?"

"Well besides the men and women in my old unit, no one else knows about nickname, except you now." said Ryder scanning the path they had just come from with his rifle. The only reply was another quiet 'oh' from the Lance Corporal.

After a moment of silence, the Ryder started up the conversation again. "You last name is Summers, right?"

"Yup. Nicky Summers. Why do you ask?" she asked curiously.

"I'm in Delta Squad. My squad lead is has the same last name. Do you have any relatives that are marines or somethings?" asked Ryder.

"Oh yeah! That's my older sister. I didn't think you meant the same Delta Squad. I haven't her in awhile. I didn't know she was onboard the _Midnight_." she excitedly said.

"That's understandable. We were just shipped to the _Midnight_ from the _Goliath_ right before the Covenant showed up. We haven't had a chance to interact with the crew." he explained. "She's a good leader. She knows how to get the job done with minimum resources. She can also hold her own very well. Saw her take down an entire Covenant squad on her own."

"Yeah. That's Roxy alright. She's the one that inspired me to be an ODST. She was always so cool. I can't wait to see her again." said Summers, reminiscing on the times she spent with her sister. Ryder couldn't help but smirk at this side of his new companion. He let out a small chuckle before both his and Summers's attention was drawn to a shouting Edwards much further ahead of them.

"If you two are done with your little date, we still have over a kilometer and a half to go." yelled Edwards

"We better double time it. Come on, Spectre, we're almost there." said Summers smiling behind her visor before breaking into a light jog. Ryder just groaned at his old nickname, instantly regretting telling her it before quickly following after her at slightly slower pace.

**A/N**

**Again I'm so sorry for the late update and if this seems a little rushed. Life has not been easy for me and with testing right around the corner and school work piling up, I might not get a chance to update again until my next break, so give or take 2-4 weeks. Thank you so much for your patience and support. It means so much to me.**

**To clear up somethings up before I continue, the unit sizes differ from the Marines and the ODSTs in this story. ODSTs don't have fire teams. They go straight to squad which is 4-8 people. Marines, however, do. A fire team consists of 4-5 marines and a squad is from 6-8 marines. All unit sizes after that are same. **

**Review or comment. All feedback is welcome.**

**Thanks again. Have a great day.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**

**Hey everybody. Sorry for the long wait for an update. It's been busy preparing for vaction and everything but fear not, school is over so updates should be a bit more frequent. I especially apologize for an grammatical or spelling mistakes. I always end up find those after I post a chapter no matter, how many times I read it over. **

**Disclaimer: Halo does not belong to me. It belongs so 343 Industries and its repective developers. Only the characters and plot of this story belong to me. Any names in this story are completely coincidental.**

**Now onto the story.**

_ODST FOB_

"Get those squads prepped! We have Covenant flooding into the city. Its only a mater of time before they start sending out scouts to find the Forerunner facility. Sgt. Adams, who's still not accounted for?" yelled Lt. Stark.

"We still have 4 ODSTs unaccounted for. Lance Corporal Nicky Summers, Corporals Derek Edwards and Ike Harper,and Private First Class Mark Ryder, sir. Everyone else is accounted for." said Sgt. Adams scrolling through a data pad. Just as he finished listing off names, an ODST ran up to them with his hand on his headset.

"Sir, our lookouts has spotted an ODST walking toward the base. Wait, 2 more have just stepped out of the tree line. IFF ping them as friendlies. Scans saw its Derek Edwards, Nicky Summers, and Mark Ryder."

"Alright, send a squad to greet them and have them report to me." ordered Lt. Stark. The ODST salutes then starts relaying the orders through his headset.

"How much time do we have until the reinforcements arrive?" Lt. Stark asked with a groan, rubbing his eyes

"Most of the Pelicans have already entered the atmosphere. Our birds are heading for the closest UNSC base and awaiting our signal." answered one of the ODSTs in the room.

"Crap, we don't have time for this. Adams, give me a list of all of our scouts." commanded Lt. Stark. The sergeant nods and pulls out a datapad with a roster and starts selecting names to put on the new list. Once done, he hands the list of ODSTs off to the Lieutenant, who looks through the list quickly and selects 5 names. "I want these 5 ODSTs to report to me ASAP." With that, the sergeant nods before he starts trying to raise people with his radio.

The Lieuntenant looks back at his datapad before pressing a few a few things and placing it down. On the screen was a the last recorded movement of a large Covenant scouting group that was en route to the Forerunner and research facilities and the route of the 5 scouts he selected were going to operate on, which ran an interceptory course on the predicted Covenant group movement.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Outside the ODST FOB_

As Edwards approached the formerly abandoned town, he were greeted with the sight of 3 ODSTs standing outside the town. All of them were heavily armed. As they got closer, they stopped talking among themselves and stood in line in front of them. They all had the basic ODST armor on, with the exception of the middle ODST, who had a small antenna attached to her helmet as well as a several pouches attached to her chest and a knife sheath inside her right shoulder pad. When she stepped forward, the other two flanked her right and left. As he approached them, one of them put their hand to their helmet and radio something in. As they waited for the others to catch up they talked amongst themselves.

Summers and Ryder both arrived at the same time jogging, a minute behind Edwards. They really hadn't realized how far ahead Edwards was. The six ODSTs now stood there staring silently at each other, moving their gazesI from faceless silver visor to the next until the ODST standing in the middle stop her gaze on Ryder. After a quick moment of silence, she finally broke the silence.

"So Ryder, are you planning on telling me what you and my sister were doing so far behind your point man?" asked the ODST.

"Nothing, boss. We were just talking" responded Ryder.

"Oh? Are you lying to me, Private?" interrogated his squad leader, Sgt. Roxy Summers.

"No, ma'am." quickly answered Ryder.

"Alright, I believe you, but if I find out you are lying and you were doing something with my sister, I'm going to castrate you with a spoon." said the older Summers, saying the last part in a somewhat cheerful voice causing all of the males present to cringe.

"Come on, Roxy, stop teasing him. We were just talking. I was getting to know the troops under my temporary command." said the younger Summers, chuckling at all of their reactions. She then gave her sister a hug. "Its great to see you, Roxy. I've missed you so much. We have a lot to talk about."

"I missed you too, sis. We can catch up on the way, we need to report to Lt. Stark. He needs to debrief you guys. I still wanna know what you two were talking about." said Sgt. Summers, returning the gesture.

"I was just getting to know these two. That's it." the younger Summers replied pulling away from the hug.

"Funny, you haven't said a word to me since we first met. You only talked to Ryder." said Edwards. This lead to the Roxy turning to Ryder, making the Private stiffen under his Sergeant's glare. "Anyways, you said the Spook wanted to see us?" continued Edwards.

"Yeah, from what I heard form Adams, you three and Harper are the only ones missing. Come on, I'll bring you to him." said Sgt. Summers. As she finished and everyone else had started walking, Ryder stopped her and waited for everyone else to walk ahead.

"Don't wait up for Harper." He's hand goes into one of the pouches before tossing the dog tags he took from the dead ODST he encountered earlier to his sergeant and gave her the ODST's SMG. "Air brake failure. Died on impact." Roxy removed her helmet with a sigh, attached the SMG to left thigh, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry you had to be the one to find him. I knew you two were friends." she said. Ryder looked at his squad leader. She had short dark brown, almost black, hair with the tips of it dyed a dark blue and slightly tanned skin. She had green eyes that held a mixture of sadness and concern at the news of the loss of one of her ODSTs. He turned to everyone else. The younger Summers and Edwards had both removed their helmets as well. Nicky had short black hair in a pixie cut. Her skin tone was a shade lighter than that of her sister. Edwards had light brown hair in a caesar cut and his skin was tanned evenly.

"Thanks, boss. I'll be okay. I won't let it affect how I do my job." He replied looking back at his squad leader, giving her a nod and a small smile through his visor.

"Alright, but if you need to talk about it with someone, we're here for you." said Sgt. Summers, nodding toward the four other ODSTs walking up to them.

Ryder took off his helmet and looked back at his squad leader with a small smile. His short dark brown hair was flattened from being in the helmet all day and had dark brown eyes. His skin was light in tone. "Yeah, I know. I appreciate it."

They were about to start walking again when they notice a low beeping coming from Ryder's helmet. Ryder quickly puts the helmet back on and his HUD notifies him of someone trying to hail him on his comm. Opening the line, he immediately greeted with the someone's voice.

"Pvt. Ryder, its Sgt. Adams, Alpha squad."

"Sir, how can I help you?"

"The Lieutenant wants to know where you are. You specifically."

"I'm with the Nicky Summers, Derek Edwards, and Delta Squad, sir. We just got to Wayland and are making our way toward the HQ."

"He says he wants you here now. HQ is the town hall. Double time it, Marine." With that, the line was cut. Ryder just looks down and sighs, removing his helmet once more while squad leader was staring at him, curious on what the call was about.

"That was Sgt. Adams. He said the spook wanted to speak with me. He didn't say what for." Ryder quickly explained.

"That doesn't sound good. Better not keep him waiting. Town hall is in the middle of the town. It's the one with the words "Town Hall" painted above the door in gold lettering and some guys standing guard." she replied as if reading his thoughts.

"Thanks, boss. I'll catch up with you guys later." Ryder replied and started running the nearest alleyway toward the center of town. Roxy turned towards the rest of her squad and the other ODSTs and walked up to her sister, hooked her arm around Nicky's neck.

"Okay, sis, we're going talk about why you were so late and what you and Mark were talking about."

"I was only late because Edwards and Ryder were being shot at by the locals and I decided to lend a hand. And what we talked about was Mark's habit of disappearing and his time in the Marine Corps." said the younger Summers struggling to get loose of her sister's hold while everyone else just stood behind them chuckling.

"Oh so you're on a first name basis with him already. You work fast." teased the older Summers. "Wait, he told you about his time as in the Marine Corps? It took me three months and looking thorugh his service recored for me to get him talk to me about it." she complained. Behind the girls, they heard everyone else asking each if they knew Ryder use to be a Marine. "Consider yourself lucky, Ryder isn't usually open with people he's not familiar with."

The older sibling looked at her sister as she chew over the information in her head. "So what does that mean?" her younger sister finally asked.

"It means he trusts you, which means something cause he doesn't do that often." the older sibling said with a chuckle.

A quiet 'oh' was all that escape her mouth at the moment. After about 30 seconds of silence, Nicky spoke again, "Since you know he was a Marine, you probably know his old nickname, right?"

"What old nickname? asked Roxy with a genuine look of curiousity.

"Ummm, never mind. Forget I said anything" Nicky said quickly looking away. She had forgotten that Ryder said only she knows about the nickname after the death of his unit.

"Fine, whatever." sighed Roxy, knowing she was getting anymore information out of her sister. "Let's keep moving"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_ODST Temporary HQ_

The Lieutenant was leaning over a table going over his decision in his head and trying to convince himself that this was best course of action when he heard someone stop behind him and speak.

"Private First Class Mark Ryder, sir. Reporting in, sir." the young man said, snapping into a salute as he did it. The ONI officer turned around and look at the young man.

"At ease, Private. You were among the last to arrive, am I correct?" the ODST in front of him put his hands behind back and separated his legs.

"Yessir, I arrived with Corporal Derek Edwards and Lance Corporal Nicky Summers, sir."

"How long were you three traveling together?" the ONI officer asked.

"Almost the entire journey, sir." Ryder replied.

"Alright, I want you to tell me what happened up until you meet up with the first person of that group. I'll get the rest of the story from the other two later."

"Yessir." the Private said.

With that he begun to tell the Lieutenant of everything that happened up until the point here he help Edwards get out of his pod.

"Thank you, Private. I'm sorry to hear about your squadmate but I can't give you to time to mourn him yet. I have an assignment for you." Lt. Stark said.

"Sir?" Just at that moment, four other ODSTs walked in. Similar to Ryder, they had a ligther versions of the ODST armor that had was meant for scouts. The only difference was instead of one knife, Ryder had three, one on his arm, one on the back of belt placed horizontaly, and one on the inside of his rigth boot. Ryder also had Harper's pistol, as well as his own surpressed magnum, attached to his thighs, his DMR on his attached to his back.

The Lieutenant then motion the four of them join him and Ryder. He then handed the 5 ODSTs 5 separate datapads that had their briefing on it.

"As you know, the Covenant are on planet and its only a matter of time until they find the Forerunner site. You 5 are running an interceptory course to a small Covenant scouting force that was last seen around this clearing, with the clearing showing up on the datapad. "I want you guys to find the Covenant and wipe them out. Shouldn't be more than a dozen grunts and a few jackles. A ghost, if we're unlucky. No serious firepower. Once you have eyes on, report in to me and engage."

"Sir, what about our squads?" asked one of the ODSTs.

"They'll be notified once you leave. This mission is top priority. The Covenant cannot know of the facilities until we've evacuated and we've nuked the hell out of them. Is that clear?" said the ONI officer.

"Yessir!" they all shouted in unison.

"Damn straight. Corporal, you're in charge. Now get moving. The Corps. ain't pay you by the hour." With that the 5 ODSTs made their way out of the HQ and started jogging out into the forest to meet the Covenant.

"Sgt. Adams, mark Corproal Ike Harper as KIA. Cause of death: air break failure. Also notify all the squad leaders, I want a meeting after I get the reports from the last two ODSTs who arrived with Private Ryder. Notify me when they arrive, I'll be in my office." Lt. Stark said walking out of the room, the weight of his desicion to send those 5 men to their death in order to buy themselves and the evacuation some more time and to lessen the size of the incoming Covenant force, bearing down on him.

**A/****N**

**Finally done with this chapter. Agian I apologize for the wait. I'm on vaaction and I only got to work on this at night. Mainly cause I have too much energy to sleep and no one else is awake.**

**For those who are going to ask why Ryder isn't showing that much emotion with the death of Harper, its because this isn't the first time he's lost someone. He's the kind of person to bury his emotions and not show them until it eventually overwhelms him and he breaks down because of it. He knows the risks that come with being a ODST and how easy it is to lose a friend in this war. Everyone does and almost everyone has lost someone to during the Human-Covenant War. Maybe I'll show Ryder breaking down in the future. Or maybe not, depends on if he survives or not. Only time will tell.**

**Also I plan on bring back Fire Team Echo soon, so looking forward to that. Hope you guys are too.**

** So what did you guys think of this chapter? Like it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? Review or comment your opinion. All feedback is welcome. **

**Thanks for reading my story and thanks for all the support. It means a lot to me.**

**Thanks again for giving this story a go. Have a great day.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**

**Hey everybody. Just wanted to thank everyone who has favorites and followed my story. It really does mean a lot to me since it does give me the motivation to continue this story and it's just a huge confidence boost that you guys like men story. Anyways enough of that, time for disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: Halo does not belong to me. Halo belongs to 343 Industries and its respective developers. Only the characters in this story and its plot belong to me. Any names that similar or identical are completely on to the story.**

_UNSC Base Spear's Edge_

Since the arrival of the Covenant Carrier in atmosphere, all UNSC bases on the planet have been put on alert. This base, however, was one of the few that was holding still receiving troops from orbit. As the next Pelican approached the base, a team of medics were already by the pad to receive and treat the wounded.

"Echo 036, you are clear to land. A medical team is on site ready to receive any wounded on board." said an operator in the flight tower control center.

"Much obliged, control. Beginning our descent." Said the pilot before turning off the mic on the radio and turning on the intercom to the passenger compartment. "Alright boys and girls, Control has approved of our request to land. Medics are standing by to receive the wounded. We'll be landing within a base called Spear's Edge. ETA 4 minutes."

In the passenger compartment, the Marines and other crew moved about, prepping to get off the Pelican. Once everything was set and the more seriously wounded were moved toward to exit to allow the medics to get them first, they all took their seats and talked amount themselves until the Pelican landed. When the doors opened with a hiss, medics immediately rushed inside the pelican and began checking and moving the wounded. After the wounded were safely taken off the Pelican, the rests of the passengers quickly collected their gear and got off the Pelican. The last ones to get off the bird was a fire team that wasn't wounded but their clothes and armor were singed and torn in some places.

"Finally, off that bird." Said one of the Marines. On his shoulder pad was the Corporal insignia as well as an emblem that was shared between all the members of his fire team.

"Not one for flying, Williams?" asked one of the other Marines. He bore the rank of Private.

"Don't get me wrong, Miller, I enjoy flying as much as the next guy but with all the Covenant air and anti-air being moved about, I'm just glad we got to the ground in one piece." Replied Cpl. Williams, removing his boonie hat and running his hand through his short blond hair. Quickly placing his hat on his head, he took a moment along with the rest of his team to observe the base and get their bearings.

"Alright Echo team, let's report to the commanding officer and see what we can do to help." Said their sergeant, Sgt. Alaster. Leading the way, the fire team made their way to the command center. The fire team found their way to command center after a couple of minutes of searching and asking for directions. Upon entering the command center. They were immediately greet with the sight of the base commander talking to a runner. As they approached the commander, the runner gave a salute and took off with a jog to go relay the newly received orders and messages. As the messenger left, the commander turned to address the fire team.

"Gentlemen, how can I help you?"

"Sergeant Alex Alaster, fire team Echo. Ready to assist any way we can, sir?" said the sergeant snapping into a salute along with the rest of his team.

"Glad to hear it. For now I want you and your boys to rest. At the moment, this base is on standby. We were doing maintenance on the base when the attack came. Our auto defense towers are down. We've finished all the maintenance but we're waiting for the system to finish rebooting. Once it's finished, then we can start deploying Marines. Until then, I need everyone here to help defend if case of a Covenant attack." explained the commander.

"Copy that. Marines, you heard the commander. Get some chow and some sleep, but keep your gear close. We have no idea when the Covenant will show up, so be prepared." Said Sgt. Alaster turning to his team. With that, the Marine fire team left the command center and went there separate ways to complete their separate tasks.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_ODST scouting group, 5.3 miles from Forerunner Facility_

Upon receiving their mission, the small scouting party of ODSTs quickly left the town of Wayland and immediately headed toward their objective. Jogging the first mile, they came across an home that had been abandoned by its owner. As luck would have it, the garage still had a car in it as well as a few motorcycles within it that weren't rusted to hell. So with three ODSTs in the car and two on the motorcycles, the scouting party was making great progress to their area of operation. The mission had them blockade the main road heading to the Research center and Forerunner facility and making sure the Covenant don't pass through. Setting up the car to blockade the main road, they set up and prepared for the Covenant to arrive.

After 30 minute of nothing, one of the ODST, Percy Grace, finally broke the silence. "Okay I have to ask. What the hell is taking the Covenant so damn long. If this was a small scouting group, like we were told, they should have been here by now."

"Maybe the Covenant got lost." said another ODST, Jon Dash. "Or maybe they gave up and went home."

"Or maybe because it isn't a small scouting group." said Ryder catching everyone's attention. "Oh come on, I'm not the only who thought that, right?"

"No you're not. We were just hoping to God that it was." said the Corporal in charge of the group. "In any case, we should prepare for the a much large Covenant force in the area. Grace, Ryder, you two follow the road and see if you can find out what's holding up the Covenant. Don't engage, just radio in what you find and get your asses back here. Dash, Pope, you guys are with me, we're holding the line until they report in. Are we clear?"

"Sir, yessir." everyone replied and headed off to do the tasks they were given.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Forerunner_ _Facility, an hour later_

"I understand that the Covenant are on their way but the we can't leave until we've transferred the data." said the head scientist. "Now do you're job and protect us until we're ready to be evacuated or I will be forced to notify your superiors." The scientist turned around and walked away.

Sgt. Roxy Summers was about to beat the scientist into unconsciousness and drag him to the evac point. She was already beyond pissed as she was down two men, one dead and the other involuntarily signed up for a suicide mission just buy them extra time to evacuate scientist who refuse to leave. Getting ready to walk up with to the scientist and knock some sense into him, an arm shot out in front, stopping her before she can move.

"Whatever you're think, sis, its a bad idea." said her sister. Sgt. Summers turned toward her sister. Nicky Summers stood by her sister. "Come on. Let's talk outside. The lieutenant wants some of us out there to assist the ONI security detail." Roxy nodded at her sister and the two walked toward the an exit that lead out onto the wall. As they got outside, the sun was starting to begin its descent. They continued to walk until they reach a spot that both up high for Nicky to effectively use her sniper rifle and was out of the way so the two had the privacy to talk.

"Are you okay, Roxy?" asked Nicky.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just stressed." replied Roxy forcing a smile for her sister.

"I can relate. My squad leader said we're down a man. Send off on a suicide mission to buy us time. What about you? I heard someone from every squad was sent out. Is that true?" said the youngest of the two sisters.

"Yeah, its true. My squad is down to three. Ryder was sent on that mission from my team." sighed Roxy.

"Oh." her voice was a quieter than it had previously been. Mark was the only one on her sister's team that she got to know besides their name. Even if they barely had time to talk, she considered him a friend. "I'm sure he's fine. He can hold his own in a firefight and if he's out with Percy Grace from my team, those two will give the Covenant hell before going down." smiling at her sister although she wasn't sure if she was trying to reassure her sister or herself. Before the conversation could go on any further, a message came in through the comms.

"This is Lt. Stark to all units. Our scouts have reported a large Covenant force is on the move. The scouts have volunteered to buy as much time as they can while we wait for our reinforcements to arrive. According to the reports, we have 3 Wraiths, about a half a dozen Ghosts, and around 30 infantry lead by Elites. Our reinforcements are about 3 hours out. Our scouts won't be able to hold them for long so we have 2 hours at most. I want defenses prepped and all units on standby. Let's give them hell people."

The girls looked at each other and nodded. Putting back on their helmets, the younger of the two sisters set up her sniper rifle against the railing while the older one of the two radioed in her position to her squad and set up a rally point for them in case an attack happened while they were separated. After setting up her sniper rifle, Nicky radioed in her position to her squad so that her spotter knew where to find her once trouble started.

About 5 minutes after the ONI officer gave everyone there the message, a massive explosion sounded throughout the valley. The smoke could be seen for miles but after the explosion, the valley settled into an eerie silence.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_ODST scouting group, 6 miles from Forerunner Facility, .7 miles from the road blockade_

"Well at least the intel was right about the Ghost." joked Grace.

"Yeah, too bad he forgot to mention to the other 5." said Ryder before pressing two fingers to the side of his helmet, "You seeing this, Corporal?"

His comm buzzed for a second before a reply came. "Yeah. Should have figured the intel was off. Alright, I'm connecting the lieutenant. Play nice, you two."

Soon another voice came in over Ryder's comm. "Gentlemen, what am I looking at?" said the Lieutenant.

"Large Covenant force, sir. We're counting 3 Wraiths, at least half a dozen Ghosts, and around 30 or so infantry. Elites are in command." reported Grace. "Recommend mission abort."

"Negative. Stick the mission. Slow them down. We need time here. We can't evac the scientist yet and reinforcements are still en route. We need the extra time."

With a sigh Ryder replied, "Copy that. We're Oscar Mike."

"Good hunting." With that Lieutenant disconnected. With the ONI officer gone, the three ODSTs began to talk about how they were suppose to hold Covenant troops heading their way.

"So, anyone got any ideas because I'm all ears." said the Corporal in charge of scouting group.

"Well we need to take care of those Wraiths first or else we can forget about any kind of defense." said Ryder continuing to observe to the Covenant force who were all holding position, not listening to his comms anymore. _What are they waiting for? They have the numbers and firepower to push an offensive. It's almost like they were waiting for something."_ Ryder thought to himself.

"So what do we do?" asked Grace. His question bringing Ryder back into reality.

"Hey Perce, did the Corporal give any orders?" asked Ryder. "I wasn't paying attention. Something about the way the Covenant are just waiting here doesn't sit well with me."

"Yeah. He said cause as much destruction we can and fall back to them. You have a plan?" said Grace. Ryder quickly starting thinking of plans, none of which were safe. Taking another moment to pick a plan, he finally replied to his partner.

"Something like that. Do you have any smoke grenades?" His partner nodded in the affirmative. "Good. Chuck them toward the Wraith and in between us and their lines. Then toss a frag as far as you can. Hopefully you'll cause enough confusion that they'll think the attack is coming from the other side. Hopefully that'll give us enough time to rush the Wraiths and take out at least two of them then we run like hell back to the rest of the group." He knew the plan was crazy and was sure to get them killed but he knew that the Wraiths were too big of a threat to the safety of the rest of the ODSTs defending the facility or the ones at the blockade.

"You know this plan is crazy, right? If anything this is gonna get us both killed." Ryder just nodded in reply. "Yeah, thought so. Fuck it, might as well go out like badasses." said Grace removing the smoke grenades and the frag grenades from his belt and pouches. "Ready when you are." He pick up one of the smoke grenades and readied himself to throw it while Ryder did the same with his smoke grenades. "On my mark. 3...2...1...mark!" With that they both threw their grenades, Ryder's hitting on of the Wraiths' hulls, effectively startling the Covenant, while Grace's hit a Grunt in the head. As grenades spewed smoke, the Covenant were too confused to realize the next to smoke grenades land. The two ODST tossed the frag grenades with all their strength, getting the two explosives to the other side of there they were running from, drawing the attention of the Covenant and even killing a few who were too close to the grenades' blast radius or caught the shrapnel.

With the Covenant distracted and disorganized, the two turned on their VISR and rushed into the smoke, making a beeline straight for the Wraiths. Like all enemies, hostiles were highlighted in red while friendlies were highlighted in green. Grace reached the closest and hopped on the back of it while Ryder went to for the furthest. As Ryder reached his target, Grace had hopped off his one and took down a cluster of Grunts with his M6/SOCOM pistol before turing his attention to an Elite Minor who had his back turned to the ODST. Ryder quickly got off his Wraith and went for the last one but an Elite Major was backing up into view and blocking his path to the last target. Opting to go through the Elite rather than around, the ODST tackled the Elite as it was turning to face him. Stunned by the sudden attack, Ryder swiftly removed the knife from his boot and stabbed it into the Elite's right eye. Not wasting time to sheath the knife, Ryder quickly sprung to his feet and jumped on to the last Wraith and planted his last grenade. As he got off, Ryder saw Grace stabbing his knife into an Elite Minor's throat while on his back before jumping off and running up behind a Grunt trying to flee after watching its leader hit the ground with a thud and firmly planting his knife in its head. Ryder signaled Grace that the deed was done and the two quickly made their way out of the smoke. Before they could leave the dissipating smoke, two Elite Ultras unknowingly had their backs turned to the ODSTs. Rushing the Elites, the two swiftly assassinated the Sangheili officers, Grace climbing on the back of one of them and snapping its neck by grabbing one of its the mandibles and the back of its helmet and giving its head a good twist while Ryder used his already unsheathed knife to slice across the Elite's lower back before stabbing it in the head and slamming its head into the ground and pinning it to the ground with the knife. Not bothering to retrieve the knife this time, Ryder and Grace ran through the smoke, their VIRS as their guide until they reached far enough that the smoke had thinned out and visibility had improved enough to allow them to see without it. Turning it off, the two took a quick moment to look back at their handy work as the smoke had dissipated enough to see the Covenant now. Looking at the Wraiths, Percy Grace held up three fingers. _3...2...1...0._ Forming a fist as the timer on the grenades and in this head hit zero, the grenades attached to the Wraiths went off one by one. The explosion from the grenades and the Wraith combined, forming a much larger and louder explosion, one that could be heard for miles. The explosion cause the ODSTs' visor to polarize to keep the two ODSTs from being blinded by it.

Once the dust and debris settled, the two ODSTs were greet with the sight of the once formidable Covenant attack force, now in complete ruin. The total causalities for the Covenant forces that they could see were all three Wraiths, two Ghosts destroyed and one with a overloaded power cell, and a sizable chunk of their infantry. The Covenant force was no longer capable of mounting an offensive against the UNSC at the Forerunner facility. Proud of their work, the two fist bumped then head off to meet up with the rest of their scouting group.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everybody.**

**To start things off, I want to apologize for not updating. While I was working on this chapter, one of my teachers sent us a huge homework assignment to do during the last month of summer vacation. And now that school ha started up again, updating will be a challenge. So once again I'm really sorry for the lack of content and thank you for your patience.**

**Now enough with the bad new, I have good news. Well some might think this is good news, others might not care in slightest. Anyway, to those of you familiar with my profile know that I have a short Destiny story. Only a chapter long. After a long debate with myself and playing Destiny to get back into the swing of how that universe works, especially with the Taken King DLC, I've decided to revive that story. So in case anyone who reads this enjoyed that story, expect updates soon. Now on to the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: Halo does not belong to me it belongs to me. Halo belongs to 343 Industries and its respective developers. Names that are similar or alike with that of someone or something in the real world are coincidental.**

**Enjoy the story.**

_.5 miles from the scouting group, 6 miles from the Forerunner facility_

"Hey Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we lost?" the two ODSTs stopped. They stood there for a moment before Mark finally spoke up.

"We are now."

"What do you mean?" asked Percy taking off his helmet, revealing short black hair, green eyes, and a slightly tanned skin.

"Well up until now I've been using the rest of the squad's transmitters as beacons to guild us back." explained Mark.

"Okay so what's the problem?" asked Percy.

"They stop transmitting." answered Mark

"That's a problem." said Percy putting his helmet back on. "Yeah, I'm not picking them up either. Maybe its a malfunction. Our gear could a bit fried after that explosion."

"Yeah, maybe. Come on, let's giving moving. I have a general idea on where we're going." said Mark.

For the next hour and a half, the two ODSTs cautiously made their way back to rest of their scouting group. Although the Covenant attack force was decimated and was in no position to make any kind of strike, they decided to take no chances. As they as they arrived at the small blockade, they found it abandoned. Deciding to not approach the blockade, they stayed in the nearby tree line, hidden by some bushes.

"Where is everyone?" asked Percy. It wasn't like ODSTs to abandon a position without attempting to contact the people they had out in the field. Looking closer, Percy noticed the air shimmering for a second before losing sight of as he blinked. "Hey Mark, I think I saw something."

"Like what?" asked Mark now scanning the area more carefully.

"I don't know but I thought I saw the air shimmer. Could be active camouflage on an Elite or it could be the heat." explained Percy still scanning the abandoned blockade.

"Alright, use your VISR or thermals. The thermals should pick up the heat emission from their stealth devices and the VISR should be able to highlight them." Mark said. The pair took a few moments to scan the now abandoned blockade before Percy spotted an invisible Elite.

"Got one."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, by the hood of the truck." said Percy.

"I see 'em." replied Mark. On the side of his HUD, he saw another Elite standing up from behind the truck. "Heads up, I see another one."

"Crap. How many of them are there?"

"One way to find out." Mark removed the now empty knife sheath from his boot and threw it at the truck. The sheath hit the driver door with a loud thud. The road was quiet for a few moments before an Elite came up from the truck and searched for the cause of the sound. Walking along the side of the truck, the Elite kicked the empty sheath. Hunching over and picking it up, the Elite called out to his comrades about his find. To no one's surprise, more than two voices replied.

"Any idea on what they're saying?" asked Mark.

"Sorry, I seem to left my hinge-head to English dictionary at home." said Percy sarcastically.

Before Mark could reply, the Elite with his knife sheath uncloaked and began sniffing the air.

"Come out, human. The wind carries your scent. Show yourself and I will be merciful and end your life quickly like your friends here." the Elite said in a deep voice.

"Not happening. Mark, we need to bail." whispered Percy as he turned to his partner, only Mark wasn't there. "Son of a bitch." Percy started debating on his options when a low whistle caught his attention. Looking over, he sees Mark with his rifle in his hand, nodding at Percy to follow him. Percy complied and stood up and quietly moved to join Mark. When Percy was about 5ft away from Mark, he stepped on the stick, which snapped with a loud crack. After a few seconds of silence, the ODSTs looked at each other with a nervous look, hoping the Covenant hadn't heard it. However, as soon as it seemed the like the Covenant hadn't heard, the air around them erupted with plasma bolts soaring passed them.

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!" yelled Percy as he dove to the ground to avoid the incoming fire. Mark replied to incoming plasma fire in kind with fire from his DMR. Percy quickly moved behind the nearest piece of cover and began firing back, aiming at the brief flashes of the plasma discharge from Covenant Carbine barrels and the faint glow of the of the ends Plasma Rifles.

"We can't fight them like this." Percy yelled over the plasma fire before firing another burst at the Covenant. "Can you get in contact with Stark?"

"I'll see what I can do." Mark said putting two fingers up to the side of helmet. "This is Private Mark Ryder, does anyone copy? I repeat this is Mark Ry-Gah!" Mark was interrupted by a Carbine shot impacting his helmet, sending him to the ground.

"MARK!" Percy yelled as he let loose another burst as he made his way to his partner on the floor. As he got to him, he dragged Mark behind a fallen tree for cover while firing. "Come on, man. Stay with me. I can't kill all these guys on my own." Mark replied with a pained grunt and began firing once again at the Elites moving in on their position. Finally, the two ODSTs scored one kill.

"That's one. Four more to go." Mark said. Firing another couple of shots, Mark crouched down once again to reload. As he slammed in a fresh magazine and pulled the bolt, Percy crouched down just as a hail Plasma Rifle fire burned through the air above or hit the other side of the tree they were hiding behind. Noticing his rifle was empty he quickly slapped in a fresh clip, pulled the charge handle, and waited for the hail of plasma fire to lighten up.

"Hey, Percy, takes these. They'll do you more good than they will me." said Mark going through his pouches and removed multiple magazines of ammo, all meant for Percy's type of rifle, and handing them to him.

"Thanks. I was down to my last mag. How are you holding up?"

"I got a pounding headache and my helmet is singed but other than that, I'm good." Mark took a moment observe surrounding area. "Hold up." Mark aimed the opposite way the Covenant was shooting from and fired off 5 shots in rapid succession. All 5 shots hit home with each splattering purple blood on the ground. After the 5th shot, an Elite uncloaked and fell over dead. "Two down, three to go."

An explosion went off behind Mark and in its wake, a cry of pain from an Elite who was too close to the explosive. "Make that three." The last two Elites stopped firing and roared before putting away their Plasma Rifles and pulling out and igniting their Energy Swords. "Oh shit."

The two ODSTs quickly began firing at an Elite using the glow of the Energy Sword as a reference point. Under the focus fire of the ODSTs, the Elite went down with ease. The other however proved to be more problem. By the time the ODSTs had taken down the Elite's shield, the sprinting Elite had vaulted over the cover the humans were using. Before the ODSTs could line up a shot, the now uncloaked Elite vertically slashed at Mark, slicing his DMR in half, and kicked Percy back a few feet. With his primary weapon gone, Mark drew his pistol and began firing at the Elite. Percy, having recovered and gotten his breath back, fired his rifle into the exposed back of the Elite. With in seconds, the Elite fell over dead.

The two ODSTs stood there with a dead Elite between them catching their breath. After a minute of silence, Mark was the first to break it. "That thing was a dick."

"Come on. Let's get back to base. We'll take the bikes back." said Percy ignoring his partner's statement.

"A plan worthy of Lady Athena." groaned Mark starting to feel the pain kick in as the pair began walking to the blockade they formed helped form earlier. Percy just chuckled at friend before groaning himself and the ODSTs walked off back to their vehicles.

**A/N**

**Well that concludes this chapter. This chapter honestly holds real no significance as I'm trying to get back into the groove of writing. Again I really am sorry about the lack of content. School has been consuming all of my time and energy. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks reading my story. Any feedback is welcome. Thanks again. Have a great day. **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N**

**Hey everyone. Just wanted to say thanks for reading this story, especially if you've been reading since the beginning. It really does mean a lot to me. To all those review, I don't have the words to express how grateful I am. I do read every review and take everything you guys say into consideration. So I just want to say that.**

**Disclaimer: Halo belongs to 343 Industries and its respective developers. I own only the plot of the story and its characters. Any names that are similar to those of anyone in the real world are completely coincidental.**

**Now on to the story.**

_Forerunner Research Facility_

Back a the research facility, the scientist were busy taking apart and storing gear for when the evac pelicans came in and to get them out of there while the ODSTs and the ONI security kept a close eye on the perimeter. Since the explosion, everything had been quiet. While the silence and lack of action was welcome as it made their jobs of guarding a lot easier, the silence was a unnerving and put everyone on edge as if the shadows were about to jump up and attack them which, considering the Sangheili's stealth technology, was a reality known especially to veterans of the group. With explosion that put everyone on standby happening over an two hours ago, everyone were wondering what had happened to the scouting group and if they were actually successful in repelling the Covenant. No communications had been received from them to indicate their success yet the lack of any Covenant forces could be seen as evidence to their success. In the temporary command center sent up in the facility, the Lieutenant stood over a map of the region and a number of data pads spread across the table with information coming in from various sources, from local medias to military intelligence. The Covenant forces on the planet were focused on capital city, which was the closest city to where the Covenant Carrier had shown up, in hopes of establishing a foothold on the surface but they had met stiff opposition from the UNSC as well as the colonial militia and other local forces. While the Covenant forces have been branching out and striking other cities, they were being repelled local forces. There was talk of them actually being able to win this fight. However, the Lieutenant knew better then to start hoping too early. Victory was completely dependent on the Navy and their ability to hold the line. If those Covenant ships broke through, it was all over. With a Covenant Carrier laying siege to the city and patrols scrambling across the sky, it was by some miracle that they haven't already found the Forerunner structure and thrown everything they had at them to capture it.

_'Or maybe that's their strategy. Wipe out any local support we have then turn their full attention to us. Without backup, we won't be able to hold this place more than a few days.'_ the Lieutenant thought to himself. He was pulled from his thoughts when someone walked up to him with a data pad and spoke.

"Sir, I found something you should have a look at." the ODST said handing him the data pad.

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_Pelican Echo 036_

Even with being almost filled to capacity with Marines, the cargo hold of the transport ship was quiet with the only noise coming from the hum of the engines and the quiet prayer being whisper by a Marine praying for his salvation. The Marines inside the Pelican mentally prepared themselves for the moment the doors opened and they had to leave the cargo hold. For many of the Marines there, it was their first engagement with the Covenant. To some, reality had sunk in in the quiet cargo bay. They, as well as many of the other people around them, may never see tomorrow. The silence was broken when the pilot of the craft spoke up.

"Attention everyone, we are approaching the LZ. ETA 3 mikes." After that, the sound of weapons being checked and load filled the compartment. They felt the Pelican begin to shake as ground fire began hitting the craft as it descended followed by the sound of the machine gun on the nose of the Pelican opening up on the attackers. "LZ is hot. Local forces have been engaged by a Covenant patrol. Get ready to come out shooting. 60 seconds." The pilot's voice said over the intercom. The Marines closest to the rear door stood up and prepared to exit the craft with their weapons at the ready. Everyone inside the transport felt the Pelican land and could hear the plasma rounds splatter on the outside metal.

"Touchdown! Hit it Marines!" The back hatch began to open up and before it could open fully, Marines were already firing out of it, suppressing the Covenant outside. As quick as they could, the Marines piled out of transport and moved to any nearby cover and began suppressing until the rest of Marines were off. With the three fireteams of Marines off, the Pelican quickly took off and headed off to complete its next task and the Marines began pushing up the street from their landing zone. With incoming fire coming in from two directions, the Covenant patrol, made up from a handful of Grunts, two Jackals and an Elite, quickly fell into chaos. The Grunts, the ones that survived the barrage, quickly panicked and started running around. The Jackals, trying to shield themselves while retreating, were cut down by Marine marksmen the once their shields collapsed. The Elite was the only one who put up anything close to a challenge as it tried rushing the local forces with an Plasma Rifle in one hand and an Energy Sword in the other. However, just before it could reach the sandbags, its shield failed under the combine fire power of the Marines and a single round from a DMR put an end to its life.

"Nice shot, Miller." congratulated St. Alaster. Miller nodded and continued to scan the area with his DMR.

"We're all clear. Fireteams Echo and Indiana, push up and secure a perimeter. Oscar team, you're with me." The Marine Captain ordered. The fireteam leaders all confirmed their orders and moved with their teams to complete their objectives.

Echo team moved and established a secure perimeter. As they spread out to secure the area, they came across no other Covenant. The one thing they noticed was the faint sound of propeller blades slicing through the air echoing off the buildings. Taking a few minutes to locate the source of the sound, Cpl. Williams finally found the source of the noise. "Sir, it's coming from over their." Cpl. Williams said pointing down one of the streets. Everyone looked down the street that he was talking about to see nothing but after a few moments, a Falcon turned the corner and made its way toward them followed by two Hornets.

"Captain Zhang, I have eyes on friendly air entering our AO. One Falcon and two escort Hornets." Sgt. Alaster said into his mic.

"Copy that, Sergeant. I just got word that we're not the only support coming in. Multiple ODST and Marine squads have deployed around the city on order of ONI from one of the ships up above. Whether or not it has ODSTs onboard is to be seen. Either way that bird is carrying reinforcements and supplies."

"Copy that. Perimeter is secure and we're awaiting further orders."

"Pull back to us. The Army and colonial militia will man the perimeter. I want you and your boys restocked and rearmed before the next wave of Covenant hits. Now that they know the position of this checkpoint, we can be expecting them to make an effort to wipe us out."

"Roger that. We're on our way back." the Marine Sergeant said as he watched the Falcon pass overhead and turn the corner toward the Army checkpoint. The Hornets were trailing not far behind as they were slower then the Falcon. "Marines, we're pulling back to checkpoint." The rest of Echo team nodded in confirmation and they began to jog back to the checkpoint they had helped secure either. On the way there, they passed the Army unit that would be taking over the perimeter from them and gave them a nod of acknowledgment.

As they made in back to the checkpoint, the Falcon from earlier was had finished offloading the supplies it had been carrying and the pilot was running some checks on the flight systems. Walking over to an ammo crate, the fireteam spent the next couple of minutes loading up on ammo but before they could finish loading some of the empty magazines with bullets, a soldier's voice came over the radio.

"Look alive, people. We got three Banshees on approach coming in from the east." Before the soldier even finished the Hornets were already on the move. Once they were in range, they engaged the Banshees. Once again the radio crackled to life as gunfire was heard much closer by.

"Contact! Phantom just dropped off troops over at the to north. We need reinforcements. Shit! Man down, man down!"

"Indiana team, reinforce the perimeter. Oscar and Echo, get prepped in case more Covenant show up." As Captain Zhang finished giving his orders, the Covenant Phantom passed overhead. As it passed, it's three heavy plasma turrets opened up on the soldiers below. "Everyone, find some cover!" He shouted as the hail of violet plasma rained down on them. By the time the Phantom was out of range 2 Marines, 3 colonial militiamen, and an Army soldiers laid dead. A few were killed by car that had exploded while the others were killed by direct plasma fire. Their armor was burned black and was melted with some even having the their skin partially melted due to the extreme heat. Surprisingly, the Falcon took no damage with the exception of a few scorch marks. By the time, everyone had begun to act on the orders they were given the earlier, a lone Marine came running backwards while firing his MA37 until he is a he is riddled with needles from a Needler and the needles explode into a pink mist with a loud shattering sound, leaving the soldier with a torn apart armor and a gaping hole in his chest. Running into nearest cover they could find, the remaining UNSC forces prepared to engage the new threat. Behind them the sound of engines drew everyone's attention as the Falcon's engines came to life. In under a minute, just as the first couple of Grunts began turning the corner, the Falcon was off the ground and was gaining altitude. As more Covenant came around the corner, they were met with a hail of bullets from the Falcon's chin mounted M638 autocannon and one of it's M247H machine guns. The Covenant attempted to fire back but the plasma rounds splatter harmlessly off the armored underbelly of the Falcon. Taking advantage of the air support, Echo team pushed forward to get to a better firing position and began opening up on the Covenant, wiping out the Covenant squads before they could fire back at the Marine fireteam.

From when the Banshees showed up, the attack lasted no more then 7 minutes. Of the two Hornets that engaged the Banshees in aerial combat, only one returned, with both of its passengers dead. The other was flame heap of scrap metal crashed into side of building through a window with corpse of the pilot burning in the cockpit and it's passengers dead on the streets below. Once the attack was over, the Falcon and what was left of it's escort left took off to complete their next objective.

While assessing the damage caused by the attack, the sound of engines once more filled the ears of the Marines. This time two Warthogs rolled into the checkpoint.

"We're heard this checkpoint just got hit. Do you have wounded?" one of the drivers called out. One of the Warthogs was a transport hog and had a two teams of Marines in the back. As the wounded either made their way or were carried to the Warthog, one of the teams of Marines hopped out to make room for the injured. Once they were loaded up, the Warthogs left.

"Captain, what do we do?" asked one of the Marines.

"Hunker down and keep an eye out for more Covenant until we receive orders to do pull back. Squad leaders and team leaders with me." The Captain announced. Everyone nodded and moved to do one task or another.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_ODST Scouting Group, Location: Unknown, Uplink Connection disrupted_

The ODST left from the scouting group drove back to the Forerunner facility in silence. When they arrived back at the road block, the found the members of their team dead. Grabbing their dog tags, rigging the truck with a proximity explosives, and failing raise the ONI agent that sent them out there on the radio, the two survivors abandoned the blockade, knowing full well that the two of them couldn't the position with just the two them. As they continued to drive, Mark speed up and rode along side Percy and signaled him to pull over. Pulling over, Percy approached Mark to see him take off his helmet and brace himself against a nearby tree. Immediately concerned with the health of his partner, Percy ran up to the other ODST.

"Hey man, you okay?" As Mark looked up to at him and nod, Percy noticed the trail of dried blood on the side of his face from where the Covenant Carbine shot had impacted. One of the streams of blood had trickled into his eye.

"Yeah. Just feeling a bit lightheaded and some sweat got into my eye. I guess the adrenaline is wearing off."

"Dude, that's not sweat, that's blood. Shit, we need to get you back so the medics can check you out. Carbine rounds are toxic."

"Oh. Well fuck. How bad is the injury?" Mark turned his head so Mark could see the injury better. Percy examined the wound and deemed it to be nonlethal. It was a cut that wasn't deep and had already stopped bleeding, his hair stiff with dried blood. He was looking paler then usual. It was understandable on why he was feeling lightheaded. Hell, he was surprised that Mark was only feeling lightheaded.

"You'll be fine. The cut isn't deep and its already stopped bleeding but you've quite a bit of blood. Take it easy for now and drink some water if you have any. I'm going to try to contact the Lieutenant again." Mark just nodded before dropping to floor and pressing his back against the tree trunk. Percy stood up straight and put his index finger and middle finger against the side of his helmet. "This is Private First Class Percy Grace, does anyone copy?" No response. "I repeat this Private First Class Percy Grace, are there any UNSC forces hearing this?" This time the radio crackled and what sounded like a voice came back but it was heavily distorted and being drowned in static. "Say again, I don't understand you." Fiddling with some of the setting on his radio, the voice came over more clearly.

"Private, this is Pelican Foxtrot-2-9. What's the problem?"

"Oh thank the gods, this is ODST PFC Percy Grace, my recon team was hit and only myself and one other ODST is left but he was injured. Took a Carbine round to the side of the head. Requesting extraction."

"Copy that. We shouldn't be far from your location. Pop a smoke and we'll come pick you up."

"Roger, Foxtrot, popping a smoke." Percy grabbed a smoke flare and popped the top off and ignited it. The flare burned bright red and sent red smoke into the air. "Extraction at the red smoke."

"Affirmative, we see you. That road is a little to tight for my bird, Private. I'm seeing a clearing half a klick north from your smoke. Rendezvous with us there and you got yourself a ride. ETA 3 mikes."

"Copy that. See you there." Percy shut off the radio. "Alright, Mark, we got a bird inbound that'll be touching down in 3 mikes. Problem is that the trees are preventing it from landing so we're linking up with them in a clearing half a klick from here. Think you're up for it?"

"Can we take the bikes?" Mark asked getting off the floor and sliding his helmet back on. Tapping the side of his helmet, Mark spoke up again. "Comm check."

"Coming over loud and clear. Don't get comfortable, Mark. It'll be a quick ride." Percy said getting on his bike.

**A/N**

**That's it for his chapter. I'll the same question I asked on the other story. How many people noticed any of the references I've included. There are more in this story then there are in the other ones.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading my story. Got feedback? Comment, review, or even PM if that's more your style. Thanks again and have a great day.**


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